Single rail elevator guide equalizer



Feb. 19, 1952 s. G. HICKS SINGLE-RAIL ELEVATOR GUIDE EQUALIZER FiledOct. 4, 1949 Patented Feb. 19, 1952 SINGLE RAIL ELEVATORGUIDE EQUALIZERvSeymour George Hicks, Memphis, Tenn., assignor to Rotary Lift Company,Memphis, Tenn., a

corporation of Delaware Application October 4, 1949, Serial No. 119,521

9 Claims. 1 My invention relates to elevato;` guides for the cars of.freight and passenger elevators. More specifically -it relates toguides adapted to be used in conjunction with a single guide rail whichdistributes the load over a substantially luiereased` length of theguide .rail `so as to make more effective use of the inherent strengthof the rail,

An elevator guide functions not only to center the load bearing car inthe shaft, but also to maintain the platform thereof in its horizontalOrientation though the `load be not centered With respect to the pointof power application, such as the suspending cable or Athe supportingram. The general guiding structure usually employed takes the form of avertical stile on each side of the car, two guides on each stile at theextremities thereof, and guide rails on. each side of the elevator shaft(viewing the point of entry into the shaft as the front), engaged by theguides. The

platform, of course, is rigidly fixed with respect to the Stiles.

One .such guiding structure has usually ineluded and been characterizedby a single shoe or its equivalent attached to each end of each of thesoies and a single rail on each side of the shalt on which the two shoescarried by each stile run- The capacity oi the elevator is determined inpart by the thrust applied against the rails by the .shoes in the easeof maximum unbalance of the loading. The point of failure in the guiderails occurs in the somewhat narrowed web thereof, and the nature of thefailure in the event of overloading lies moet generally ln the ilexingof the web adjacent the point of guide shoe engagement which produces aslight tilting ol the platform- Greatly excessive loading will Cause abending or collapsing of the rails or a failure of the means attachingthe rail to the wall which of course would make the elevatorinoperative.

For greatly increased loads which would overtaX by far the capacity o fthe largest standard vguide rails, a solution appears in the patent toLawrence F. Jaseph, No. 2,489,140, dated November 22, 1949. AIn thatcase two rails are employed on each side of the elevator shaft withpaired guide shoes engaging each of the rails at both top and bottom ofthe stile. The principal suhject of that application is not only theconcept of guiding the platform by two rails on each side but also ininsuring that the load is distributed evenly between the two rails bythe slices Thus, absolute parallelism both as between the two rails andas between the rails and the shaft at all points is exceedingly dihcultto provide and being taken substantially on the line 2,-2 of 2 structureis shown that application whereby, as the rails converge or divergeslightly, a link,- age to which the shoes are connected spaces theslices exactly with the spacing 0f the rails to insure an equaldistribution of load between the two rails.

This structure, while exceedingly useful for its purpose, namely, theaccommodation of exceedingly heavy loads, is expensiveg and greataclvantage would lie in the provision of a substantially less expensivestructure for accommodating loads which, while excessive for the singlerail, single shoe guide arrangement, do not demand the use of thetwo-rail guiding arrangement.

The object of my invention, therefore, is the provision of ,guide means-for an elevator which will accommodate loads larger than the singleshoe single rail guiding means and yet which is substantially lessexpensive than the two-rail guide means with its associated loadequalizing arrangement.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a guiding arrangementfor an elevator which increases substantially the load carrying capacityof a single standard guide rail.

Still another object of my invention is the provision of such anelevator guide which permits the carrying o f greater loads by anelevator guided by a single rail on either side through a distributionof load over an extended portion of the rail length.

Still another object of my invention is the provision of a guidearrangement for an elevator which engages a guide rail at spaced pointsand yet which insures an even division of load 'between these points.

Yet another object of Iny invention is the provision of a guide for anelevator which engages a guide rail secured to the wall of the elevatorshaft b y regularly spaced securing means in such fashion that the forceapplied by the guide is carried by at least 4two of the spaced securingmeans.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear from thefollowing description and drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective, broken away in part, of the guide embodying myinvention as situated at the top of one of the stiles of an elevator;

Fig. 2 is a section Which may be consideradas Fig 3 ,section which maybe. considered as being .taken substantially the. line. ,3e-3 of Fie.-2: and

Fig. 4 is an elevation of a guide rail and the guides as employed withan elevator platform shown in section.

In the drawings, the elevator platform l is` joiried to the stiles I2 atthe point I4 of intersection of the two members and connected to thestile heads I8 at the upper portion of the stile I2 by tie rods I6. Themeans of connection may be the threading of the tie rod I6 into a crosspin 2U between the members of the stile head I8. The guides, indicatedgenerally as 22, are connected to the head and foot of each stile. Itwill be remembered that the stile I2 and guides 22 and structureassociated therewith shown in Fig. 4 will be duplicated on the otherside of the elevator platform ID.

The guide rails 24, one of which is fixed to each side of the elevatorshaft, are standard articles of manufacture and of standard section andare characterized by a guiding portion 2G and a web 28 -of somewhatreduced width. The rails may be secured to the wall 29 of the elevatorshaft by clips 3l. The guide shoes 30 are likewise old and well knownand are characterized by a U- shaped cross section. The interiorsurfaces 32 embrace closely the guiding portion 26 of the guide rail.

As was pointed out before, the prior practice has been to employ,instead of one of my illustrated guides appearing at the head and footof the stile I 2, only a shoe such as the shoe 30. Such a shoe mustembrace very closely the guiding surface of therail in order that theplatform be held firmly horizontal thereby. It is apparent that thelonger the area of engagement between the shoe and the rail can be made,the greater will be the strength of the guiding structure. The load willbe distributed more evenly among the rail supporting clips and over agreater section of rail web.

It is exceedingly difficult, however, to insure that a guide rail bemounted in an elevator shaft so as to be absolutely straight, and apositive assurance of such straightness adds substantially to theexpense of the installation-indeed, to a near prohibitive extent.Granting, then, slight curvatures in the rail at different points, theshoe must be kept relatively short in order to engage the rail over thewhole of its rail engaging surfaces and to avoid seizing and binding inthe areas of these curvatures. An incidental hazard from the use of along shoe also lies in the point contact between the rail and shoe in aregion of rail curvature breaking the lubrication film and producingexcessive wear, so impairing the platform .stability This necessaryshortness of the shoe, however, results in the application of thepressure, consequent from the torque imposed on the elevator platform byan uncentered load, to a relatively small area of the rail, `and thesmaller the portion of rail engaged by the shoes the more likely will bethe possibility of failure.

Applicant avoids these material disadvantages of a single guide shoeconstituting the guide and obtains the advantages of an elongatedbearing surface which nevertheless can follow the abovementioned railcurvatures by the employment of two short guide shoes 30 for eachguiding unit.

These guide shoes are 'pivotally mounted as by pins 33 on` an elongatedmember 34, hereinafter referred'to ,as the equalizer, which maintainsthe shoes 3U in spaced relation. Such spacing of the shoes will have theeffect of distributing the load on the rails over a length substantiallygreater than the combined length of the shoes. The center portion of theequalizer is enclosed by the two plates 36 which make up the stile headI8 and a pin 38 is passed through the plates 36 and the equalizer 34 soas to secure the equalizer 34 pivotally within the stile head I8.

The operation of my elevator guide and pary ticularly the equalizer willbe readily understood from the foregoing description. Assuming that aportion of the guide rail 24 is bowed slightly, the two guide shoes 30will follow the rail exactly, their pivotal mounting on the equalizer 34by the pins 33 enabling them to deviate, as the rail, from absoluteperpendicularity. Because of the short shoes permissible in thisemployment, the fit with the guiding portion 26 of the rail may be 'madeexceedingly close without danger of binding since the degree ofcurvature of such bows in the rails is relatively slight.

The shoes thus following and fitting the rail closely but without dangerof binding, the remaining problem to be solved is the equal distributionof thrust on the guide to the two shoes, and this is accomplished by theequalizer. By virtue of the pivotal attachment of the equalizer to thestile, the equalizer may turn with the shoes as they follow the railcurvatures, and the central locus of the attachment point assures anequal distribution of load between the two shoes of each guide. In thisfashion, the load is evenly apportioned between the shoes and thence toa substantial length of rail.

Having thus described one embodiment of mv invention, I claim:

l. In an elevator installation including an elevator shaft, an elevatorcar vertically movable in said shaft, and single guide rails on oppositesides of the shaft for guiding the car; a guide device secured to a sideof the car facing one of said rails comprising an equalizer pivotallyattached at its center portion to the car, and a pair of guide shoespivotally attached to the end portions of the equalizer, said guideshoes enga-ging the guide rail.

2. In an elevator installation including an elevator shaft, an elevatorcar vertically movable in said shaft, and single guide rails on oppositesides of the shaft for guiding the elevator; a guide device secured to aside of the car facing one of said rails comprising an equalizerpivotally attached at its center portion to the car, and a pair of railengaging guides pivotally attached to the end portions of the equalizerso as to be spaced from each other, said guides engaging the guide railand all of said pivotal attachments permitting movement in a verticalplane parallel to the guide-carrying side of the car.

3. In an elevator installation including an elevator shaft, an elevatorcar vertically movable in said shaft, and single guide rails on oppositeside of the shaft for guiding the car; a guide device secured to a sideof the car facing one of said rails comprising an equalizer pivotallyattached at its center portion to the car, and a pair of guide shoespivotally attached to the end portion of the equalizer so as to bespaced from each other, said guide shoes engaging the guide rail and allof said pivotal attachments permitting movementin a vertical planeparallel to the guide-carrying side of the car.

4. An elevator guide device for use with an 'elevator car of the typeguided by single guide rails on opposite sides of the car, comprising anequalizer adapted for pivotal attachment of the center portion thereofto the side of the car faclng one: of said rails, and a pair of guideshoes pivotally attached to the ends of said equalizer,`

said shoes being adapted to engage said rail, all of said pivotalattachments permitting movement in a vertical plane parallel to theguidecarrying side of the car.

5. An elevator guide device for use with an elevator car of the typeguided by single guide rails on opposite sides of the car, comprising anequalizer adapted for pivotal attachment of the center position thereofto the side of the car facing one of said'rails, and a pair of guideshoes pivotally attached to the ends of said equalizer so as to besubstantially spaced from each other by said equalizer, said shoes beingadapted to engage said rail, all of said pivotal attachments permittingmovement in a vertical plane parallel to the guide-carrying side of thecar.

6. An elevator guide device for use with an elevator car of the typeguided by single guide rails on opposite sides of the car, comprising anequalizer adapted for pivotal attachment to the side of the car facingone of said rails, and a pair of rail engaging guides pivotally attachedto the ends of said equalizer so as to be substantially spaced, all ofsaid pivotal attachments permitting movement in a vertical planeparallel to the guide-carrying side of the car.

7. 1n an elevator installation including an elevator shaft, an elevatorcar movable in said shaft, and single guide rails on opposite sides ofthe shaft for guiding the car; a guide device secured to a side of thecar facing one of said rails comprising a pair of guides engaging one ofsaid rails, and an elongated member, said guides being pivotally securedto the ends of said member and said member being pivotally securedbetween said guides to said car, all of said pivotal attachmentspermitting movement in a vertical plane parallel to the guide-carryingside of the car.

8. In an elevator installation including an elevator shaft, an elevatorcar movable in said shaft. and single guide rails on opposite sides ofthe shaft for guiding the car; a guide device secured to a side of thecar facing one of said rails comprising a pair of guides engaging one ofsaid rails and an elongated member to the end portions of which theguides are pivotally secured, said member being pivotally securedbetween its end portions to said car.

9. In an elevator installation including an elevator shaft, an elevatorcar movable in theeshaft, and a single guide rail on one side of theshaft for guiding the car; a guide device secured v:to the side of thecar facing said rail comprising r`a pair of guides engaging said rail,and an elongated member having pivotally secured to the end p0rtionsthereof said guides and being pivotally secured between its end portionsto said car.

SEYMOUR GEORGE HICKS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the

